Ohio Transfer Module

Seamless transfer: The Ohio Transfer Module is a set of courses that fulfills the general education
requirements at public colleges in Ohio. You can take the Transfer Module at Columbus
State, then transfer to another college to finish your bachelor's degree.

Contents Of This Page

Background

The Ohio Board of Regents in 1990, following a directive of the 119th Ohio General
Assembly, developed the Ohio Articulation and Transfer Policy to facilitate each student’s
ability to transfer credits from one Ohio public college or university to another
in order to avoid duplication of course requirements. A subsequent policy review and
recommendations produced by the Articulation and Transfer Advisory Council in 2004,
together with mandates from the 125th Ohio General Assembly in the form of Amended
Substitute House Bill 95, have prompted improvements of the original policy. While
all state-assisted colleges and universities are required to follow the Ohio Articulation
and Transfer Policy, independent colleges and universities in Ohio may or may not
participate in the transfer policy. Therefore, students interested in transferring
to independent institutions are encouraged to check with the college or university
of their choice regarding transfer agreements. In support of improved articulation
and transfer processes, the Ohio Board of Regents will establish a transfer clearinghouse
to receive, annotate, and convey transcripts among state-assisted colleges and universities.
This system is designed to provide standardized information and to help colleges and
universities reduce undesirable variability in the transfer credit evaluation process.

Transfer Module

The Ohio Board of Regents’ Transfer and Articulation Policy established the Transfer
Module, which is a subset or entire set of a college or university’s General Education
curriculum in A.A., A.S., and baccalaureate degree programs. Students in applied associate
degree programs may complete some individual transfer module courses within their
degree program or continue beyond the degree program to complete the entire transfer
module. The Transfer Module contains 54 – 60 quarter hours or 36 – 40 semester hours
of course credit in English composition (minimum 5-6 quarter hours or 3 semester hours);
mathematics, statistics and formal/symbolic logic (minimum of 3 quarter hours or 3
semester hours); arts/humanities (minimum 9 quarter hours or 6 semester hours); social
and behavioral sciences (minimum of 9 quarter hours or 6 semester hours); and natural
sciences (minimum 9 quarter hours or 6 semester hours). Oral communication and interdisciplinary
areas may be included as additional options. Additional elective hours from among
these areas make up the total hours for a completed Transfer Module.

Courses for the Transfer Module should be 100­_­ and 200_ level general education
courses commonly completed in the first two years of a student’s course of study.
Each state-assisted university, technical and community college is required to establish
and maintain an approved Transfer Module.

Transfer Module course(s) or the full module completed at one college or university
will automatically meet the requirements of individual Transfer Module course(s) or
the full Transfer Module at another college or university once the student is admitted.
Students may be required, however, to meet additional General Education requirements
at the institution to which they transfer. For example, a student who completes the
Transfer Module at Institution S (sending institution) and then transfers to Institution
R (receiving institution) is said to have completed the Transfer Module portion of
Institution R’s General Education program. Institution R, however, may have general
education courses that go beyond its Transfer Module. State policy initially required
that all courses in the Transfer Module be completed to receive its benefit in transfer.
However, subsequent policy revisions have extended this benefit to the completion
of individual Transfer Module courses on a course-by-course basis.

Transfer Module

Transfer Assurance Guides

Transfer Assurance Guides (TAGs) comprise Transfer Module courses and additional courses
required for an academic major. A TAG is an advising tool to assist Ohio university,
community and technical college students planning specific majors to make course selections
that will ensure comparable, compatible, and equivalent learning experiences across
the state’s higher education system. A number of area-specific TAG pathways in the
arts, humanities, business, communication, education, health, mathematics, science,
engineering, engineering technologies, and the social sciences have been developed
by faculty teams.

TAGs empower students to make informed course selection decisions and plans for their
future transfer. Advisors at the institution to which a student wishes to transfer
should also be consulted during the transfer process. Students may elect to complete
the full TAG or any subset of courses from the TAG. Because of specific major requirements,
early identification of a student’s intended major is encouraged.

Students who complete Columbus State’s degree requirements in Communication, Mathematics,
Humanities, Biological and Physical Sciences, and Social and Behavioral Sciences will
automatically have completed the Transfer Module.

Conditions for Transfer Admission

1. Ohio residents with associate degrees from state-assisted institutions and a completed,
approved Transfer Module shall be admitted to a state institution of higher education
in Ohio, provided their cumulative grade point average is at least 2.0 for all previous
college-level courses. Further, these students shall have admission priority over
out-of-state associate degree graduates and transfer students.

2. When students have earned associate degrees but have not completed a Transfer Module,
they will be eligible for preferential consideration for admission as transfer students
if they have grade point averages of at least a 2.0 for all previous college-level
courses.

3. In order to encourage completion of the baccalaureate degree, students who are
not enrolled in an A.A. or A.S. degree program but have earned 60 semester or 90 quarter
hours or more of credit toward a baccalaureate degree with a grade point average of
at least a 2.0 for all previous college-level courses will be eligible for preferential
consideration for admission as transfer students.

4. Students who have not earned an A.A. or A.S. degree or who have not earned 60 semester
hours or 90 quarter hours of credit with a grade point average of at least a 2.0 for
all previous college level courses are eligible for admission as transfer students
on a competitive basis.

5. Incoming transfer students admitted to a college or university shall compete for
admission to selective programs, majors, and units on an equal basis with students
native to the receiving institution.

Admission to a given institution, however, does not guarantee that a transfer student
will be automatically admitted to all majors, minors, or fields of concentration at
the institution. Once admitted, transfer students shall be subject to the same regulations
governing applicability of catalog requirements as native students. Furthermore, transfer
students shall be accorded the same class standing and other privileges as native
students on the basis of the number of credits earned. All residency requirements
must be completed at the receiving institution.

Acceptance of Transfer Credit

To recognize courses appropriately and to provide equity in the treatment of incoming
transfer students and students native to the receiving institution, transfer credit
will be accepted for all successfully completed college-level courses completed in
and after Fall 2005 from Ohio state-assisted institutions of higher education. Students
who successfully completed A.A. or A.S. degrees prior to Fall 2005 with a 2.0 or better
overall grade point average would also receive credit for all college-level course
they have passed. (See Ohio Articulation and Transfer Policy, Definition of Passing
Grade and Appendix D.) While this reflects the baseline policy requirement, individual
institutions may set equitable institutional policies that are more accepting. Pass/Fail
courses, credit by examination courses, experiential learning courses, and other nontraditional
credit courses that meet these conditions will also be accepted and posted to the
student record.

Responsibility of Students

In order to facilitate transfer with maximum applicability of transfer credit, prospective
transfer students should plan a course of study that will meet the requirements of
a degree program at the receiving institution. Students should use the Transfer Module,
Transfer Assurance Guides, and Course Applicability System for guidance in planning
the transfer process. Specifically, students should identify early in their collegiate
studies an institution and major to which they desire to transfer. Furthermore, students
should determine if there are language requirements or any special course requirements
that can be met during the freshman or sophomore year. This will enable students to
plan and pursue a course of study that will articulate with the receiving institution’s
major. Students are encouraged to seek further information regarding transfer from
both their advisor and the college or university to which they plan to transfer.

Appeals Process

Following the evaluation of a student transcript from another institution, the receiving
institution shall provide the student with a statement of transfer credit applicability.
At the same time, the institution must inform the student of the institution’s appeals
process. The process should be multi-level and responses should be issued within 30
days of the receipt of the appeal.

The Columbus State Community College appeals process begins after the student with
previous college credit receives an email, which indicates that some previous coursework
may not be applicable to the student’s new degree. The email explains the procedure
for requesting a second evaluation of the transcript. If the re-evaluation is not
satisfactory to the student, the student may then appeal by asking the Registrar to
initiate the next step in the appeals process, which consists of a review of the transcript
and supporting documentation by the department housing the academic discipline of
the course(s) in question. Appeals denied at the department level will automatically
be forwarded to the Dean of Arts and Sciences for a final decision on behalf of the
college. If the appeal is denied at this level, the student will be advised in writing
of the reasons for the denial and how to appeal to the state level.

Fulfillment of the Associate of Arts or Associate of Science degree requirements assures
fulfillment of Transfer Module requirements.